Keith Ellison: ‘Women Are Dying’ Because Dems Are Losing Elections

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is urging Democrats to vote, asserting that “women are dying” because the left is losing elections.

The Democratic National Committee vice chairman made the remarks Friday at a progressive training session in Washington, DC, saying the party needs to win elections to save women’s health.

“Women are dying because we are losing elections,” Ellison said. “We don’t have the right to lose a damn election. We have to win. We have to win.”

Ellison said that maternal mortality is rising in red states such as Texas and Missouri, attempting to link Republican electoral wins to the rising maternal mortality rate in the U.S.

“Did you know that in Missouri and Texas… maternal mortality has risen?” Ellison said before making the “women are dying” remark.

But Ellison’s claim does not tell the whole story about the high maternal mortality rates in those states.

In Missouri, which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the U.S., most of the women die from cardiac issues and blood clots, the Kansas City Star reported.

Due to the high rate of women in the state who smoke or are obese, many of these women increase their risk of developing diabetes or heart problems.

In Texas, most women die from receiving inadequate clinical care. According to the United Health Foundation’s 2016 report on the health of women and children, only 30.8 percent of women reported that they received their flu shots.

Evidence also indicates that the rising mortality rate out of Texas is the result of flawed data, according to an article in Popular Science.

Ellison made these claims about maternal mortality rates a month after he urged Democrats to support single-payer health care.